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“To outsiders, medical school may conjure up images of a cavernous amphitheater with a white-coated, white-haired professor holding forth. But in a small classroom at the University of Vermont’s medical school, the professor has little to…

“A new study finds that undergraduate students in classes with traditional stand-and-deliver lectures are 1.5 times more likely to fail than students in classes that use more stimulating, so-called active learning methods.”

“Leading discussions effectively is not an easy task for any of us. Even those who make it look easy have actually worked very hard to hone this important skill.” Subscription required to view full article.

“The use of online discussion in both blended and fully online courses has made clear that those exchanges are more productive if they are structured, if there’s a protocol that guides the interaction… more structure might benefit our…

Scholarly research on discussion as an active learning activity, from ABLConnect, an online repository for active learning in higher education.

“As the name implies, problems are absolutely essential for problem-based learning… if there are no problems, there will be no problem-based learning.”

“‘When I listen really carefully it allows me to push students hard and help them see what they have within themselves.”

“The 225 studies analyzed document that active learning leads to increases in examination performance that would raise average grades by a half a letter, and that failure rates under traditional lecturing increase by 55% over the rates observed…

Evaluating student participation in discussion can be difficult. “Many instructors will argue that student participation in class is important. But what’s the difference between participation and engagement? What does good participation or engagement…

A history and overview of the case-method in professional schools, which all “face the same difficult challenge: how to prepare students for the world of practice. Time in the classroom must somehow translate directly into real-world activity: how to…